Fairtrade_Spot.pdf

Level 1 Elementary

SPOT ON NEWS LESSON / Fair for all / Elementary •PHOTO

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Fair for all

1 WARMER

Read the labels in the clothes you are wearing now. Where were they made?

What about your pens and pencils and your other school equipment, do they say Made in _______________?

2 WhAt doEs it MEAn?

Fill the gaps in the sentences using the words from the box. the paragraph numbers are given to help you.

______________________ is money you make by selling something from your business.

An ______________________ is a worker who has special skill or training, especially one who makes something.

____________________ ____________________ are lands that do not have many industries or much money.

______________________ people don’t have enough money to live very well.

A ______________________ is someone who makes cloth, often by hand.

An ______________________ is the word for an official group of people.

A ____________________ ____________________ is money that you get from your work so that you can buy clothes and food.

When something is ____________________ ___________________, it doesn’t harm the natural world around us.

A ______________________ is a symbol (words or pictures) that a company puts on its products so that people recognise the company.

____________________ ____________________ are honest and reliable people or companies who supply products.

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Fairtrade is made up of the two English words: fair + trade

fair (adjective) to treat people equally

trade (noun) the activities of buying and selling

profit Reputable sources artisan Developing countries weaver

logo living wage organization environmentally friendly Poor

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Fair for all

Fair For allby Ann Foulds

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Level 1 Elementary

The things you buy come from lots of different places. But

many products are made by people who work extremely hard

for very little money. Not everyone gets paid fairly for what they

make or grow. Big companies make huge profits.

But there’s an alternative. The Fairtrade system helps farmers

and artisans to get paid fairly. In 2006, Fairtrade helped

around 6.4 million workers and farmers in 57 developing

countries. We talk to young people about why Fairtrade is

important to them and why it should be important to

you too.

In 2006, Caitlin Blacklaws, from White Rock in the Canadian

province of British Columbia, went to Guatemala with her

parents and 12 of her classmates to build a school. While

she was there, Caitlin, 17, talked to local coffee farmers. “I

didn’t know what Fairtrade was but learning about the lives of

the coffee farmers opened my eyes,” Caitlin said.

There are about 25 million coffee farmers around the world.

Many are paid very low prices for their coffee beans. But

now more farmers are selling their coffee through Fairtrade

– and more people are buying it. Coffee is one of the biggest

Fairtrade products.

Caitlin explains, “A farmer who grows Fairtrade coffee gets a

fair price. He gets enough money to send his children to school

and buy food for his family. A farmer who doesn’t sell his coffee

through Fairtrade can’t send his children to school. They have

to work with him.”

After Caitlin’s trip, she did a project about coffee for school.

Last summer she went back to Guatemala with her mum and

visited farms and coffee museums. “I learned a lot,” she says.

This spring Caitlin and her parents are taking more pupils to

Guatemala. “The group are all learning about Fairtrade. To me,

Fairtrade means freedom,” Caitlin says. “Farmers need to be

free to choose who buys their products – for the right price.”

Who is doing the work?

Many people think that all Fairtrade products are food. But

artisans make and sell clothing, jewellery, sports balls and

many other products at Fairtrade prices. We talked to 19-year-

old Muthulakshmi, from the town of G. Kallupatti in India.

After only a few years of school, she had to stop going to

lessons because her parents were too poor. A few years later

she started working as a weaver. Muthulakshmi told us how

Fairtrade has made her life better.

“When I was 16, I got a job with an organization called

Reaching The Unreached (RTU). They taught me how to weave

and I started working as an artisan. Now I weave two bed

sheets a day and I work about 25 days a month – from 8.30

in the morning until 5 o’clock. I think Fairtrade saves poor

people. It gives them a living wage and saves people in rural

India, and in other countries, from starvation. And we can help

to run the business. Fairtrade products are environmentally

friendly, of good quality and are sold at fair prices. People

should buy Fairtrade so people like me get fair money for their

hard work. Working as a weaver has helped me to become

respected by others. Now I earn good money and have things

like jewellery and a bank account. So now I get respect. In the

future, I would like to teach. I didn’t want to leave school. Now

I’m working for the chance to continue my education and to

become a teacher.”

What you should look for

Through Fairtrade, you’re using your money – your power – to

say that you want the person who made the product to get a

fair price. But it can be difficult to know what to buy. Here are

some tips:

Look for the Fairtrade logo. This tells you that you’re

buying something made from Fairtrade products.

Think about where you’re shopping and who is selling.

Some companies sell Fairtrade products because they

believe in the system. But others sell them because

ethical shopping has become cool – these companies

may sell other products that aren’t produced ethically.

Many crafts that are ethically produced don’t have a logo.

Try to buy from reputable sources.

Ask about where things come from before you buy them.

If your supermarket doesn’t sell Fairtrade products, ask

the manager to sell them.

Online Fairtrade shopping is easy. Use the Internet to

read about Fairtrade and find presents for yourself, your

family and friends.

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SPOT ON NEWS LESSON / Fair for all / Elementary

© Spot on, January 2008, www.spoton.de

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Level 1 Elementary


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3 Find thE inFoRMAtion

Look back at the article to complete the information.

Which Fairtrade products are in the article?

Coffee and ___________________________________________________________________

Match the two halves to make full sentences about Muthulakshmi and the coffee farmers.

How does Muthulakshmi benefit from Fairtrade?

She gets … ... train to be a teacher.

She has … ... good money.

She earns … ... jewellery and a bank account.

She wants to … ... respect.

How do coffee farmers benefit from Fairtrade?

They get … ... their children to school.

They can buy … ... have to work.

They can send … ... a fair price.

Their children don’t … ... food for their families.

4 tEEn tALk

in paragraph 9 you can read that ethical shopping is cool.

An ethical shopper is …

a) someone who goes shopping in India.

b) someone who cares about workers in poor countries.

c) someone who only buys handmade products.

Are you an ethical shopper?

5 MAkE A PostER

in groups, make a poster about Fairtrade.

Download photos from the Internet and if possible glue real wrappers and packaging to your poster.

Don’t forget to include the Fairtade logo.

Write five bullet points about ethical shopping. Use information from paragraph 9. Start your bullet points with the words:

Look …Think …Try …Ask …Use …

Give your poster a title.

Present it to the class.

a)

b)

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2.

3.

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Fair for all

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6 WEbquEst

have a look at these websites. Choose a photograph from one of the websites and talk about it with your partner.

http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/

http://www.fairtrade.net/

http://www.oxfam.org/en/campaigns/trade

7 RoLE-PLAy

Work in pairs. A is the shop assistant, B is the (non-ethical) shopper. You can write the script first if you want.

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Fair for all

A: Welcome the shopper, ask how you can help them.

b: say you’d like to buy some chocolates for a birthday present.

b: say they are too expensive.

A: show the shopper the Fairtrade chocolates.

A: say that they are only a few cents more.

b: Ask why they are a few cents more expensive.

A: Explain the benefits of Fairtrade.

b: ...

A: ...

b: thank the shop assistant and say goodbye.

A: thank the shopper and say goodbye.

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kEy

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Profit is money you make by selling something from your business. An artisan is a worker who has special skill or training, especially one who makes something. Developing countries are lands that do not have many industries or much money. Poor people who don’t have enough money to live very well. A weaver is someone who makes cloth, often by hand. An organization is the word for an official group of people. A living wage is money that you get from your work so that you can buy clothes and food. When something is environmentally friendly, it doesn’t harm the natural world around us. A logo is a symbol (words or pictures) that a company puts on its products so that people recognise the company. Reputable sources are honest and reliable people or companies who supply products.

3Which Fairtrade products are mentioned in the article? Coffee and clothing, jewellery, sports balls, and sheets.

How does Muthulakshmi benefit from Fairtrade? She gets respect. She has jewellery and a bank account. She earns a living wage / good money. She wants to go back to school and continue her education then train to be a teacher.

How do coffee farmers benefit from Fairtrade?They get a fair priceThey can buy food for their families.They can send their children to school.Their children don’t have to work.

4b

1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.

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Fair for all

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